The country girl
by EmiliShadow
Summary: When a body is found a quarter of a mile from an Equestrian center Miami Dade PD sends Calleigh Duquesne, The country girl to help solve this western style murder. My first CSI:MIAMI fic, rated T to be safe: chapter 4 is up!ON HIATUS UNTIL I'M MOVED!
1. Austen

The humid Miami heat lapped at the curtains and soaked the city in a shifting amber glow. And amidst the golden beaches there sat Calleigh Dusquesne, perched skilfully atop the railing of her balcony peering out at who knows? Maybe the Ocean kissing the golden beaches; Maybe the family of seagulls frolicking in the sky; Maybe at nothing.

Her lips subconsciously traced the rim of her coffee cup, kissing the last remnants off the porcelain. A makeshift breakfast decorated the table just behind her perch and the keys to her car lay amidst her badge and a dog-eared copy of "Emma". Calleigh was fond of Jane Austen's work. When she was a girl she would read the stories over and over again. Imagining herself as a strong-willed Emma, or an unassailable Elizabeth Bennet. But even they had flaws, Calleigh's was her relationship with her father.

But she would never admit this, not to anyone. She was Calleigh Duquesne, an independent, optimistic officer of the law; a crime scene investigator. With a cheery smile, sweet personality and the sense of great honour and propriety she was the rock for many, but who was her rock?

This, she thought about on the balcony watching the sun rise into the sky; it was slowly inching up on 7:30 and with a great sigh, the blonde haired Ballistics specialist slipped off the rail. Collecting her things and making her way back across the balcony to the door she took one last glance, inspecting her home before turning the deadbolt, checking the door and dropping the key's into her bag. Her heels tapped lightly on the granite walkway like the dance of an accelerated heartbeat as she made her way to work.

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**Okay! Thats part one! R&R maybe? This my first CSI:Miami fic. **


	2. Western

"Hey Alexx, What have we got?" After getting to work ten minutes early, Calleigh was drinking her third cup of coffee when she was called out to a crime scene 20 minutes north of Bal Harbour.

"Female vic, between the ages of eighteen and twenty-three massive trauma to the upper torso, through and through bullet wound. I'd say baby girl was shot first then trampled."

"Trampled?" Calleigh ducked under the police tape and stepped towards the senior M.E, "Alexx, are those…?"

"Hoof prints. Yes" Alexx held up an object and showed it to Calleigh, her brows furrowing.

"It's a riding crop, She must have been riding on this trail, when she was shot. Maybe the trampling was accidental?"

"And look at this," Alexx pointed to the vic's bloodstained uniform "Bal Ridge Equestrian Center… you ever hear of this place?" Calleigh shook her head.

"Hey! I heard you've got a trampling? I must admit that's a first…" Ryan Wolfe placed his kit on the ground before looking at his two colleagues.

"That's weird…" Calleigh stated.

"What? You may be all country cowgirl but not everyone…" Wolfe trailed off as he saw what Calleigh meant.

"There's a bullet hole in this tree, but no bullet…" Ryan stepped closer to examine, frowning as he tried to think of an explanation.

"Maybe it deflected off of something?" He replied as he dug around in his kit and found a laser rod " If it entered at this angle, and the victim was here… then…" the laser beam shot up in an angry red ray of light.

"The shooter was either over seven feet tall , or we have another rider…" Calleigh concluded nodding absentmindedly.

"Western enough for you?" Ryan stated sarcastically, but Calleigh didn't reply she was digging into the tree with a pair of tweezers. With a satisfied grunt she pulled a nail from the tree.

"It deflected off of this." she held it up to the light showing the condensed head where the bullet must have ricocheted off of. Replacing the laser in the hole she adjusted the angle to show where the bullet should be. The beam pointed to a densely printed area.

"Its not here." Ryan stated obviously "Maybe the shooter picked it up." Calleigh examined the spot closely.

"Or maybe the horse?"

"The casing is missing too"

"Two horses, Two pieces of evidence. Ryan, we're going to the stables."

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**A longer chapter for you!! Now we are getting somewhere! lol. The next chapter will have some horse lingo so I'll be putting a glossary at the bottom for those who don't know horse talk.**

**(on that note... a riding crop is a short handled whip made up of a leather bound rod with a small leather loop attached to the tip. It is used to urge a nervous,lazy, or stubborn horse/pony forward by tapping the loop against the horses/ponies shoulder or neck.)**


	3. The stables part 1

The county hummer pulled up at Bal Ridge Equestrian center at 12:00 and Calleigh and Natalia prepared for a long three hours of investigating. Ryan was assigned lab duty pulling trace off of their vic's uniform while Natalia was sent with Calleigh to check out the stables.

"Wow!" Natalia looked wide-eyed at the premises " How much do you think this costs?"

"No Idea, Probably quite a pretty penny if you ask me" Calleigh smiled and got out of the hummer Natalia following her lead.

"So you said you talked to the barn manager on the phone?"

"Yeah, He said that one of their horses was found at the edge of the property covered in blood," Calleigh answered " He said that the horse belongs to a Sarah Mathenson,"

"Our vic?" Natalia shifted in her boots uncomfortably, "I don't think I've worn rubber boots since I was a kid." Calleigh laughed.

"Better than getting horse mucked in Seven-hundred dollar Mary-Jane's" They were now walking along the front of the barn, the sound of a yell made them jump. Out of nowhere a horse broke free from its holder. The spooked animal pawed the ground before lunging towards the two CSI's.

Thinking fast Calleigh swung Natalia out of the way just in time, the horse glided by just missing them. He then took to a frantic dance of screaming and pawing, his eyes wide with fright. The owner ran forward to try and take the line still dangling from the mare's halter but the horse dodged leaping back and sideways, reeling towards the chestnut haired Natalia.

"Shhhh, shhhh sweetheart, Come on" The horse paused, her ears pricking towards Calleigh who was approaching her slowly. " Come on now," The horse cautiously stepped a few feet forward testing it's boundaries before halting just ahead of Calleigh. Calleigh took the lead line and held it in one hand, the other hand tracing invisible patterns on the horses forelock.

"Calleigh, how did you do that?" The Blonde smiled facing Natalia " I'm a country girl Remember?"

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**As Promised...**

**Glossary:**

**Halter: A head collar worn by a horse. Used to lead or tie a horse. Unlike a bridle it has no bit and is used solely for leading a horse on foot.**

**Lead line: as it sounds. Similar to a leash, it clips to a metal ring on either side of the halter and is used to (you got it) lead a horse.**

**Pawing: A pawing horse is using its front leg to dig at the ground. This is usually a sign of boredom, fear, or horsey rebellion.**

**Forelock: The horses equivalent to a forehead. The spot located between the eyes. Also a horse term for the bangs of a horse.**

**Thanks for reading! hope this glossary was helpful!**


	4. The stables part 2

"Hey!" The two CSI's turned to face the man running towards them, "thanks for grabbing him. He's been acting spooky ever since they brought that horse in" Calleigh smiled handing his horse back to him.

"Don't mention it"

"You're the CSI's right? From Miami Dade PD?"

"Yeah, that's us" Natalia spoke placing her hands on her hips in an attempt to look less rigid after the horse scare. "I'm Natalia Boa Vista and that's Calleigh Duquesne"

" I'm Jackson" he nodded towards the stables " Jim said you'd be coming, he's up at the headquarters, I'll take you if you would like" he ran his fingers through his hair before turning his horse towards the barn.

"That'd be great" Calleigh replied and the three made their way towards the headquarters.

"So you said they brought the horse in?" Natalia asked brushing some hair from her face.

"Yeah, He's held up just over there," He pointed to a stall that was closed off "One of the workers found him pacing near the entrance, took three men to get him under control, had to tranq the poor guy"

"Did they groom him when he got in?" Calleigh questioned she walked towards the stall that held the said horse.

"No, Thought you'd need to take evidence or something… Did you find Sarah?" he had stopped and was unlatching a stall across from where Calleigh stood.

"Yes, that's why we're here. What was your relationship with Miss Mathenson?" Jackson answered from within the stall.

" I knew her well, Her horse Chester was a real star, I helped her train him," He stepped out of the stall and latched it behind him hanging the lead line on a hook on the stall door.

" Did she have any enemies?"

"Not that I know of, she was a show jumper, so I guess competitors come with the trade but it's hard to think that it would go this far." They had started walking again but Natalia couldn't help but notice the saddle sitting outside of Sarah Mathenson's stall.

"Is that the saddle found on her horse?"

"Yeah, we took it off of him before we put him in the stall." Calleigh stepped forward to inspect it, much of the surface carried gravitational blood spatter.

"I'll send this to the lab," Calleigh stated pulling a bag from her kit "you go ahead 'Talia, I'm going to do some more investigating" Calleigh watched the two of them walk away as she bagged the saddle.

Walking towards the stall door Calleigh peered in, Sarah's horse was facing away and the light shone off an engraved plate above the stall door 'Chester'. From the little natural light that came through the barred window Calleigh could see blood caked the hair on the horses forelegs and barrel, 'this is our Trampling horse' thought Calleigh as she slowly swung open the door grabbing a lead line off a nearby hook.

Calleigh clucked a few times to get the horses attention and Chester swung around, even though he was tranquilized the craziness in his eyes remained. Calleigh slowly hooked the line to the horses halter and tied him to a loop on the stall's wall. She photographed the blood spatters being sure to minimize the flash.

Quickly and quietly she pulled trace from the horses legs, belly and back; swabbing and bagging as she went. She groomed every last fibre into her kit and then worked on the feet. Lifting the large Chestnut's right front foot she saw a silver glint.

"Bingo" She pulled the bent casing that was wedged under the horseshoe and bagged it. Next she took all the cleanings of the hoof picking and bagged it, hoping that maybe Chester had something from the killer.

After finishing she caught up with Natalia who had spoken with the barn manager and learned some things about Sarah Mathenson.

"He said that she was going to be competing at a state jumping competition next week, Maybe that's our motive? somebody thinks she's too much competition and disposes of her before she can compete." Calleigh frowned.

"But Murder? for a blue ribbon?"

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**glossary: (again)**

**Spooky: A term that means a horse is scared easily and/or timid, skittery or jumpy.**

**Tranq: Abbreviation for tranquilize, sometimes spooked horses need to be sedated with tranquilization to be able to be handled and also to prevent them from hurting themselves by retreating, or hurting others when they can't retreat. (a horses two main instincts are Flight or Fight (in that order)**

**Saddle: Just incase you don't know what a saddle is (which I as a horse person think is odd lol) Its a leather-made piece of equiptment that is strapped to a horses back used to support the rider. It is made up of a few main parts. The seat- the top of the saddle, to the back of it where the rider rests their weight, The horn- on a western saddle it is literally a vertically protruding knob, on an english sadlle it is a lip that is raised, The stirrups- two dangling straps with metal or wooden/bone loops on either side of the saddle for the riders feet, used to control the horse by applying pressure to the horses belly, The girth- the leather or woven chord strap that runs under the belly that is tightened to hold the saddle in place.**

**Barrel: Nope not the wooden kind. The Barrel is a term for the area of a horse between its withers(shoulders) and its flanks(hips) this includes the belly, ribs and back.**

**Chestnut: A coat colour of a horse, a chestnut horse is anywhere from bright orangey-brown to a dark copper, the mane and tail can be the same colour as the body or a light golden colour that is called "flaxen"**

**Blue Ribbon: The common colour of the first place ribbon in equestrian sports. (Show jumping, racing, cross country, dressage, polo etc.)**

**Authors note: I am going to be busy for the next couple days so i might not be able to update until wednesday or thursday.**


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